Department for Education

Education: Assessments

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what work her Department is undertaking to determine how effectively schools use assessment data to improve educational outcomes.

Nick Gibb: We trust schools to implement an assessment system that uses data effectively to support teaching and improve educational outcomes. Following the removal of levels, schools now have the freedom to determine their own system for non-statutory assessment between key stages, tailored to the needs of their pupils and their curriculum. The Department supports and encourages the use of assessment to support effective teaching. This has included setting up the Commission on Assessment Without Levels to provide guidance for schools when devising and implementing their systems for non-statutory assessment. The Commission completed and published its final report in September 2015 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commission-on-assessment-without-levels-final-report. As part of the Government’s ‘Workload Challenge’, the Department set up three independent review groups to address ineffective marking, use of planning and resources and data management. These reports included clear messages to empower classroom teachers and school leaders to challenge unproductive practice. They also included specific recommendations for Government, which we have accepted. The workload review reports were published on 26 March 2016 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-teachers-workload/reducing-teachers-workload. Assessment was also one of the areas considered by the independent expert group, chaired by Stephen Munday CBE, which has developed a framework of core content for initial teaching training (ITT). The group’s report, including the new framework of core content for ITT, was published on 12 July 2016 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-government-response-to-carter-review.